CHART OF THE DAY: Mobile Search Peaks At Night, Desktop Search Peaks In The Morning

Google CEO Eric Schmidt said yesterday at the TechCrunch conference that he believes mobile search activity and revenue will eventually be bigger than desktop search. For Google to say that, it means mobile search is going to have to be huge.

The good news is that it looks like mobile search is going to be incremental to PC search, and not cannibalistic, according to new research from Citi analyst Mark Mahaney.

Making that argument, Mahaney cites this chart from search engine marketing firm iCrossing, which shows that mobile search peaks at night, versus desktop search, which peaks during the morning. And he cites commentary from Google management suggesting that mobile search peaks on weekends, versus desktop search, which peaks during the work week.

Mahaney estimates that Google's mobile ad revenue run rate will be around $450 million at the end of 2010.